Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Through carrying out audience research into music magazines and looking at audience theories I found numerous generic conventions. I felt it was key to use these when creating my product. After looking at Burtons theory I found that it was necessary to focus on attracting a paticular target audience. When looking at other music magazines I found that none specifically targeted teenage girls. I thought this would be an effective target audience as I could use both male and female music artists and include articles on numerous topics, not just focussing on music. I could also use a new colour scheme which I hadn’t seen in any other music magazine. I felt that pastille colours would work well in order to attract my target audience. For inspiration I looked at other magazines for ideas and to ensure my design conformed to the conventional mise-en-page, general layout and fonts used. Here are examples of my research into conventions:

Through my research into exsisting products I became familiar with a number of generic conventions. These included titles, images, layout, colours, language and details such as a barcode and price. When designing my product I specifically chose to use different colours, however I included a number of other conventions in my product.

I found in the majority of double page spreads a large, portrait image was used. This took up half of the spread. It is a medium shot and clearly shows the relationship between the artist and their surroundings.

The prop used is a book, this gives connotations of intellegence. The medium shot clearly shows the artist enjoys reading and portrays her as somebody interesting and intellectual.

I found that important quotes were highlighted using boxes and bold font. I decided to use white font in a grey box, this enabled it to clearly stand out.

The magazine name highlighted in the corner. I used the phrase ‘At home with’ to introduce the article.

I used two columns for my article. The mise-en-page makes it more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The age my magazine represents is teenagers. I feel it does this by including articles on topics appropriate and interesting to them. For example the magazine I created gives a list of this years festivals, reviews and information on performers. Festivals are mainly targeted at teenagers and I feel that by including this it will attract a teenage audience.

The gender my magazine represents is females. Through using colours such as purple, pink and green I feel it appeals and represents females. The colours I chose to use are associated with girls and the pale colours give connotations of pretty, attractive and interesting articles to read. The colours used compliment the images I have chosen. These images are of fictional singers. When taking the images I ensured the actors wore fashionable clothes and attractive makeup. I feel that females are interested in fashion and through using images that are focussed on this it will represent females.

The mise-en-scene of my magazine uses a complimentary colour scheme which is pleasing to the eye. This represents the female social group. All three pages I created use a large image to copy ratio. I intentionally used this to attract a teenage target audience. Through using large images it will attract audiences who are fans or like the singer used. The majority of the fonts I used are bold. I also used capital letters, large fonts and text boxes to highlight key points. This will appeal to a social group who want something easy to read. It allows them to clearly see what an article is about and gather an idea of the key themes throughout. I used a wide variety of camera work. I feel this makes my magazine more interesting to read as it adds variety. Through using different angles it enabled me to portray characters in specific ways. For example on my double page spread I used a low angle shot to portray ‘Jessica Springer’ as important, intellegent and somebody to be looked up to.

The colour pink clearly represents the social group of females. It is the stereotypical colour associated with girls. This effectively I chose to use this to appeal to the female target audience. I also used purple as this is also associated with females. I feel both colours compliment each other and clearly stand out on the white background.

The bold fonts used highlight important articles. I also used a large font to show the page number. This appeals to a younger social group and emphasises the fact the magazine is fun, easy and interesting to read.

The large images used attract attention from a younger social group. The props, clothes, hair and makeup have been used to target females as they are interested in fashion. The props used include a piano, this shows that although the magazine talks about music stars themselves the main focus is the music.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

When distributing my product the institution through which I would sell my product would be a multi-national company. Although my magazine is specifically aimed at British people it also includes articles on artists from other countries. I feel that through selling the magazine worldwide it could introduce teenage, females to music and would quickly become a popular choice of magazine. I would also use this to target English speaking people around the globe. I have not included any ideological beliefs behind my magazine, for this reason it will be entirely profit driven.

An example of a magazine distributor I could use is ‘Innzone’ These are a large company who distribute and sell products directly to the convenience sector. The sell their products to 34,000 independent retailers. I feel that a company like this would be extremely useful and give me maximum opportunities when selling and distributing my magazine. I believe that targeting the convenience sector is an extremely effective method to use and will maximise sales.

Another company whom I have looked into and think would benefit my product is ‘Seymour’. This institution distributes magazines to over 70 countries worldwide. As my target audience is global I feel a company like Seymour would work well and benefit my product a considerable amount. It is the largest distributor of magazines internationally and for this reason I feel would be the best company through which to distribute my product.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Graeme Burtons theory states that when creating a product particular social groups have to be considered. Before making my magazine I decided I would target teenage, females. I would do this through using particular colours, images and fonts which would attract this audience. I considered the relationship between the social group and my product. When looking into audience motivation Dyer suggested products should offer compensation for inadequacies in their own lives. I considered this when designing my product and focused on escapism. The article I chose to include shows that even famous, idealistic artists suffered problems as a teenager. I feel this will offer reassurance to readers who may be unconfident about themselves.

The target audience I have chosen is teenage females. This is because I feel there are currently no music magazines who specifically target this audience and I feel it could be extremely successful. I have chosen to use conventional parts of music magazines, such as a range of camera work and image sizes. I have included shapes with writing in to highlight important points. I focussed on the mise-en-page of current magazines, such as NME and KERRANG and based my magazine on these. However to make my product individual and unique I have used an unconventional colour scheme. I have included pastille colours such as pink, purple, green and white. I have included articles which main focus is music and singing, however also talks about their lives. I feel this will appeal to a young, teenage, female audience as they enjoy reading about celebrities and finding out interesting information. Through doing this I feel my product will attract an enormous amount of attention as it is new, exciting and different from any other music magazine around.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The strap line I used reads ‘THE UK’S GUIDE TO THIS YEARS FESTIVALS..’ which will appeal to my target audience of young girls. It encourages them to read the article. By offering readers the option of over 100 to choose from suggests the magazine is professional, interesting and aware of what interests teenage girls.

I used a large, bold font to advertise ‘free posters’ The posters are of artists who are popular amongst a young, female audience. For example Rihanna. I believe teenage girls will be interested in putting posters up of their idols, through offering seven free posters I feel this will attract my target audience

The artist used is wearing fashionable clothes, which will appeal to the female target audience. This is because the majority are interested in clothes and fashion. The characters is wearing an interesting headband which shows her style is unique. This will appeal to the target audience who are unique and don’t want to conform to other teenage girls. The artist will also appeal to the audience as an idealistic role model to admire.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When constructing my media product I used a number of technologies. These included:

Digital camera – Before this project I hadn’t used a digital camera much. For the pictures I used in my magazine I had to consider numerous things. These included lighting, camera angle, camera shot, costume and background. I thought about what would look effective and decided I would use natural sunlight to ensure pictures were bright and colourful. This also enabled the pictures to look natural. I used a variety of camera work to portray different messages. For example a medium shot of Olivia shows she is dressed casually therefore is a laid back person. It also shows she is reading a book which suggests she is interesting and intellegent. The fact she is sitting on a staircase suggests she loves her home and is close with her family.

Photoshop – The programme software I used was Photoshop. Before this project I had never used it before. At first I struggled and needed help from others in my group. However I quickly learnt how to use it and was able to edit photographs, add numerous effects, include shapes and change the colours of layers on my magazine.

Others – Other programmes I used included Microsoft word in which I created my essay. I used this programme to organise my article into columns as I had difficulty doing this on Photoshop. I used paint to edit fonts and crop pictures for my magazine. I used paint shop pro to rotate pictures and edit the colour balance on these to make them look more effective and professional.

Looking back at your preliminary, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When creating my preliminary it gave me an idea of what I would need to include in my magazine, for example a magazine name, fonts and images. Through creating my preliminary this enabled me to clearly see what I would need to improve on, for example, I found that I didn’t have enough information on my front page. This made my magazine look bland and I felt this wouldn’t appeal to my target audience of young females. I also found that my preliminary looked amateur and felt that when creating my real product I would need to change this and make it look more professional. I would do this by improving graphics used, including more interesting stories and better photography. The images used on my preliminary were small and the white background did not compliment the fonts and images used. Through noticing this I was able to progress and ensure that my final product include a large image with fonts layered over this. I feel this looks more effective and will attract more people to buy my magazine. The range of camera work used on my magazines offers variety to the reader and portrays numerous messages, for example, the close up on the front cover clearly shows the artist is relaxed, enjoying herself and making the most of her surroundings.

In between creating my preliminary and my full product I took a number of pictures. On my preliminary I used a single picture with a medium shot. I took over 40 images which enabled me to choose my favourites. This showed me that I needed to add a variety of camera work so I took a medium shot, a close up, a two shot and a long shot.

High angle, closeup.

Medium shot Long shot Two shot

Strengths

My strengths include that I have learnt a number of new skills. These include how to effectively take pictures making them look professional. I have learnt what I need to consider when taking photographs. I have developed my skills on using Photoshop. This helped me enormously when creating my product and I feel that it will help me in the future too.

Targets

If I could improve a part of my magazine it would be the font used on the front cover. Although it is bold and easy to read I feel that by using the colour purple for a background and font colour that the font doesn’t stand out as much as it could. I would also prefer to use a different font. This would include layers with a bright colour and white making it look 3D and more interesting than it currently is.

Preliminary – front page Finished front page